


95. Acceptance

by djchika



Series: In the Waiting [1]
Category: Glee RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-12-09 15:45:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/775940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djchika/pseuds/djchika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Crisscolfer fic featuring Mia and Charlene</p>
            </blockquote>





	95. Acceptance

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted October 29, 2012
> 
> Part of My Crisscolfer 100 Ficlet (Drabble) Challenge

Charlene pushed open the apartment door quietly, making sure to put back the spare key in its hiding place before entering. She had gotten a 911 from Mia a few minutes before midnight but hadn’t been able to leave the gig until well past 2am. She wasn’t sure what was going on, or even if her friend was still awake, but still, she had to at least drop by.

She flipped open the hall lights and frowned at the general direction of the living room. Beer bottles littered the coffee table, and what she had initially thought was a lump of blankets on the couch was actually Mia, nursing a bottle of Jack.

Charlene took one look at her red-rimmed eyes, the framed picture of her and Darren on the floor and immediately put two in two together.

 _Damn_.

She moved towards the living room, toed off her high heels and curled up on the couch next to Mia who shifted so that she was leaning against Charlene. She took a swig of liquor and thrust the bottle at Charlene blindly, not even checking to see if she wanted any. She had actually had more than enough to drink at the gig, but friends didn’t let friends drink alone. The burn of the alcohol down her throat made her cough once before she passed the bottle back to Mia.

“Do you remember when we first got together?” Mia asked, her voice scratchy from crying.

Charlene wondered how long she had been sitting here alone in the dark. She considered forcing her to go to bed but the defiant look on Mia’s face told Charlene that there was no convincing her to do anything she didn’t want to do.

She sighed and settled against the couch, thinking back to the first time she had met Darren. “Honestly, I thought he was adorable.”

Mia let out a short laugh. “I thought he was annoying as fuck. He was singing Disney songs at me, Char.”

“Oh God,” Charlene said, her mind going back to the day Darren had introduced Mia to them. He had been so excited he was practically bouncing off the walls “Darren had the biggest crush on you. He wouldn’t stop talking about you for days.”

“Too bad I had the biggest lady boner for Chuck.”

“Darren didn’t let that stop him though,” Charlene said, remembering the memory fondly, “He knew Chuck was devoted to Lucy.”

Mia nodded. “He chased me for weeks.”

“And he got you in the end.”

“Yeah.” Mia took another swig. She stared at the contents of the bottle, picking at the label with her nail.

The bottle was nearly empty and given the number of bottles that were already on the floor, Mia was well beyond drunk. Charlene moved to take the bottle from her but stopped short when Mia turned to her, eyes filled with tears.

“He doesn’t do that with Chris.” Mia said, her voice barely above a whisper. The bitter pain in her voice made Charlene’s chest tighten. “He doesn’t chase. He waits. He waits and watches him and acts like the sun shines from his fucking ass and do you know what the worst part is? He doesn’t even fucking know he’s doing it.”

Mia sniffed, her voice gaining strength. “How do you tell your boyfriend that you’re afraid he’s falling out of love with you and falling in love with his gay co-star? How do you say that without making things even worse? So I kept my mouth shut and hoped that moving here would somehow magically fix things, But it hasn’t been okay. Not for months.”

She turned away from Charlene, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, “We were in some fucking award show when I first saw it. There were thousands of people around us, and all he could see was Chris fucking Colfer.”

A sob escaped Mia and Charlene automatically wrapped her arms around the other girl, letting her cry into her shoulder.

“I don’t think Chris even noticed we were in the audience,” Mia continued tearily, “but he was all Darren could see.”

They were quiet for a moment except for the sound of Mia’s soft crying as Charlene rubbed her hands up and down her back. After a couple of minutes, Mia straightened up and took another drink from the bottle.

Mia looked at Charlene, her face entirely miserable. “Did you know?”

“What?”

“That he was falling in love with him?”

Charlene considered her answer. “Not for sure, not really. But yes, I had an idea.”

The betrayed look Mia trained on her made her heart break for her friend.

“I didn’t think it meant anything. A crush at the most. It could have been-“ Charlene paused, “What’s that thing called when actors are feeling too much of what their characters are feeling?”

“Character bleed.”

“Yeah. I thought it was just Blaine bleeding into Darren. I didn’t realize it was-

“Darren bleeding into Blaine?” Mia finished for her. She laughed bitter and low. “Whodafuckingtunk?”

Charlene’s eyes fell on the picture of Darren and Mia on the floor. It was the one taken at Chuck’s wedding. Darren was smiling happily at the camera, but it was the loving look Mia was giving him that Charlene noticed. She was blissful, serene, as if there was nowhere else she’d rather be. It tore at Charlene’s heart that she could easily remember the same look on Darren’s face. Only, it hadn’t been Mia he was looking at.

“It’s Darren,” she finally said, “Darren could fall in love with a rock, and everyone would just say, ‘that’s Darren for you’.

Mia drank from the bottle before she closed her eyes and let her head fall against the back of the couch. “I just didn’t want him to be that guy, you know?”

Charlene took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly, “I don’t think Darren would ever cheat on you, Mi.”

“No, no, no,” Mia said, raising her head. The dark liquid inside the bottle sloshed as she shook her head empathically. “He would never. No, he’s the other guy,” Mia smiled, sad and beautiful at the same time. “He’s the guy who didn’t mean to break my heart.”


End file.
